Black Lawmakers Demand Twitter Prevent Promotion Of ‘Racism And Bigotry’ On Its Platform

Two African-American House members strongly advised Twitter on Tuesday to actively police its network to prevent its use as an “avenue to spread racism and bigotry,” and a platform for foreign actors to attack our system of government, Recode.net reports.

“As a result of the far-reaching nature of Twitter’s technology, we have seen an effort to undermine our democracy, create or fan flames of racial divisions, and spread hate speech that can ultimately cumulate into violence,” Democratic Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey and Missouri’s Emanuel Cleaver wrote, according to the news outlet.

In the letter, addressed to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, the lawmakers said they are disturbed that Twitter is a “platform where people feel comfortable sharing racist ideologies” that led to the White supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

They are also troubled by the recent revelation that the Russian government employed hackers to create racial discord and manipulate the 2016 presidential election.

“More importantly, we are disappointed by the silence from you and others in your industry on ways to counter such blatant manipulation of this medium to build racial animosity, the consequences of which are quite literally life threatening,” they stated.

They warned that the failure of the social networking industry to police itself will prompt lawmakers to do it for them.